Cats in Space

First time seeing the Cats at the Borderline although they seem to be a bit of a fixture at the venue although they did have to cancel a gig due to one member having a dodgy ticker at the start of the tour. This was the last night of the tour and a triumphant end no doubt with a very decent turnout of over 200 with the Borderline pretty full.

First band was Kaato, a young looking bunch with one foot firmly in the 80s glam scene. The singer had a very high pitched voice that was on the sleazy side for my taste. A couple of their songs were pretty heavily riffed affairs and I quite enjoyed those. They they resorted more regular sleazeballs which were not exactly my cuppa. But they weren't actually that bad. I'm not sure they are really a suitable support for the more grown up Cats in Space fans though.

Anyway at 9pm the Cats took to the stage and sounded bloody great almost from the word go. I am not familiar with the band enough to know their names but they sounded like long in the tooth pros who had been doing the rock game for years. Lead singer sounded bloody great too with great vocal melodies. I am not so familiar with the first album and it's only with Scarecrow that I finally became a Cats fan so to speak. I do know Mr. heartache from the debut though and I must admit all the songs from the debut sounded as good if not better than the songs I know from Scarecrow.

The band sounded great no doubt and everyone was enjoying them and singing a long when they could. I love the energetic moments in certain songs like Timebomb and the epic title track Scarecrow. I get a Uriah Heep vibe from them at times. The keyboardist is a bit of a showman too though I couldn't see him too well from my vantage point. Special mention for the great harmony vocals provided by the bass player which were spot on. So there you have it. cats in Space are a great band and make effortless epic pop/rock music that anyone with a taste for classic melody can enjoy.
Don't miss them live if you get a chance.

Too Many Gods
Mad Hatter's Tea Party
Last Man Standing
Unfinished Symphony
September Rain
Scars
Timebomb
Scarecrow
Mr. Heartache
How Does It Feel?
(Slade cover)
Broken Wing

Encore:

The Greatest Story Never Told (inc. Andrew Stewart solo)
Five Minute Celebrity

Eclipse Live Report

Third time and still lucky with the almighty Eclipse! This time at the newly refurbished Borderline withe previous two being at the Underworld. To say that I've been looking forward to this gig would be the understatement of the year! The new album as expected, blows the roof off and I already know from previous experience that Erik and the boys are incendiary in the live setting. I arrived a touch late to the venue and missed the initial support act altogether. My ticket said doors 7pm but apparently it was 6 pm. They were called Franklin Zoo from Denmark. Listening to them now I can see they are a hard rock band but lack the melodic angle I need in my music. I always like to catch all the bands in a gig though even if I don't like them but it wasn't to be this time.

As I walked in, the venue was already pretty full and the house lights went down and the familiar strains of the opening cut from One Desire's new album started. Hurt is the amost amazing song you can imagine for an epic AOR lover and What a way to start the night off proper. That song has a melody to absolutely die for. A glorious start and a band sounding shit hot with a huge keyaboard sound and perfect vocals. What a way to greet my entrance! Thank you sirs!

The band continued with most of the songs from their debut album. Highlights were the super catchy Apologise, the pop hit Love Injection and the furious Martensson co-write Buried Alive. The floor was packed and I'd say the Borderline was close to sold out, about 300 maybe. A crowd much bigger than their previous visits to the Underworld. Anyway the crowd was lapping up One Desire's lush sound and enjoying their superbly crafted edgy AOR tunes. They perhaps can't quite match the album's crystal clear sheen but the energy is through the roof and the crowd loves it with a lot of smiles, cheers and horns.

At the early hour of 8.15pm the Eclipse boys burst onto the stage with of course a rampant version of opening cut Vertigo. That opening riff will wake the dead no doubt, as Magnus cuts the air with his thick riffs and Erik does his best impression of whirling dervish, Mexican jumping bean from Stockholm, Sweden that is! The energy picks up a notch from the more lush sounds of One Desire. The crowd is getting pumped and the band follows up Vertigo with the melodic anthem Never Look Back. Everyone is singing that chorus back at Erik whilst he goes through his full repertoire on stage! What an opening one two punch!

Suddenly as the song ends Erik says there's a fire alarm and everyone has to evacuate. Yeah right Erik pull the other one! Everyone is "right Erik mate, you're taking the piss lol"..but alas no.. a stage hand whispers in his ear and we really do have to leave. Everyone is a bit incredulous and looking round for smoke or burning smell but no sign. In all my years attending 100s of gigs I've never ever had to leave a venue for a fire alarm. It turns out it's the building next door with the alarm and as we huddle out we can hear the alarm outside. Good job it wasn't that cold outside. People are milling round outside and talking and plenty still have their beers in their hands. Finally about 20 or so minutes later, a couple of firemen who have been called out give the all clear and we shuffle slowly back in and ready for lift off again!

Well that was bizarre indeed but Erik makes light of it of course and it's better to be safe than sorry. "He won't forget this night in a hurry!" Erik says from the stage as the band quickly take their spots again within a few minutes and we continue as if nothing had happened. The band doesn't miss a beat indeed. Special mention for new drummer Phillip Crusner. That guy nails the beats down to perfection and gives the songs a solid as hell backbone. The set list was basically song after song of pure magic. Wake Me Up ramps up the testosterone with that meaty riff barrage whilst new songs like the awesomely melodic Killing Me and Jaded are just brilliant in the live setting. Erik's voice can be a little rougher live than on record but that suits the material very well and you need to sound a bit meaner when competing with the hammering instrumentals.

Two acoustic songs follow one another with Battlegrounds especially sounding majestic with just Erik on his acoustic guitar and Magnus on the electric lead break. The crowd participation on the wooahh wooah part is just fantastic too. Towards the end of the set we end with nothing but straight A songs like the fantastic heavy and epic newie Black Rain complete with Hangar 18 like solos from Magnus and then the massive hook filled Blood Enemies and finally the roaring Stand on Your Feet which gets everyone er..standing on their feet?? Great anyway! The main set ends with their anthemic and super catchy tune Runaways which they eneterd into the Eurovision song contest.

The roars from the crowd soon pick up and the band enters the fray yet again for an orgasmic two-song encore. The super melodic I Don't Wanna Say I'm Sorry is a pure sing along and the night finally comes to a close with the massively heavy and catchy anthem Bleed and Scream. An eventful night has finally come to a close as the band thanks us for coming etc and basks in the adulation of this very appreciative crowd. Eclipse are building themselves a nice little fan base here in the UK and with gigs like this you can easily see why. An Eclipse gig is never dull and you're guaranteed a spanking great time with tunes that will penetrate your brain to the encore. Don't miss them if they come your way..I never will!

Intro
Vertigo
Never Look Back
The Storm
Wake Me Up
Killing Me
Jaded
Hurt
Live Like I'm Dying
(Acoustic)
Battlegrounds
(Acoustic)
Downfall of Eden
O Fortuna
(Carl Orff song) (Classical piece played with live drums)
Black Rain
Blood Enemies
Stand On Your Feet
Runaways

Encore:
I Don't Wanna Say I'm Sorry
Bleed & Scream

  

Praying Mantis - Legacy Launch SHow

Praying Mantis are one of those bands I've come to appreciate more in their latter period than their earlier formations. This show was billed as the "Legacy" launch show in honour of their brand spanking new album. It was held at the rather small Borderline but I guess it was a very suitable venue as it was pretty full by the time these stalwarts took to the stage at 8.30pm.

They have two new members in the band, the singer and drummer, and both were in excellent form especially front man and new vocalist Jaycee who was in superb form all night. I can't pretend to know all the classic Mantis material how ever the new material sounded excellent indeed. The band played for around 75 minutes although the set list was not the best I did get to hear all the new tunes that I wanted to hear like Fight For Your Honour, The One, The Runner but Tokyo was unfortunately missing although it's a brilliant song. This incarnation of the band sounds super tight and pretty cool whilst the mainstays of the band the Troy brothers know the melodic rock song book inside out.

The new front man gets into the music more than the previous guy and his powerful vocals were pretty spot on all night. I would have liked some Tony O'Hora era numbers but that's by the by, I'll get over it. It was good to hear the Mantis boys in top form and promoting a super new album to a decent sized bank holiday Sunday night crowd.

Houston LIve Report

AOR gigs are a bit odd. So many damn old people everywhere. Most of the gigs I go to I AM the old one but here I'm probably slightly below the average age of all the gig goers gathered for some good old fashioned AOR wimp rock. The funny thing is all three bands on tonight's bill were much younger by far than most of the crowd!

This gig was billed as a one off Houston gig with support from two up and coming UK AORsters in the shape of Serpentine and Vega. However since then a Houston tour has been confirmed with 3 more giants of the AOR underground for later on in the year which should be fun.

Anyway first of all we had a fun Friday night of melodic rock to get through. The Borderline is a venue I have never been to as of yet, so that's one more venue ticked off of my list. It's a rather cosy place that would be packed with 300 or so people in it and to my surprise it was packed to the rafters more or less. It was quite busy already as I walked in around 7.40 and got gradually busier and fuller as each band played and finally I'd say it was a sell out more or less.

Whilst the AOR scene is pretty minute, I'd say it's not completely dead either judging by the attendance here and the band's made no secret of their pleasure at the turn out and said so on more than one occasion from the stage.

First up was Vega who released one of the best AOR albums from last year in Kiss of Life. The band is made up of the Martin bros and Nick Workman. The sound was a little iffy at first but got a little better. The band sounded in fine form and got a good response out of the crowd and more than a few were singing a long. The songs aired were all pretty good and most of the catchier songs from the debut were aired ending with Kiss of Life which went down best of all.

Next up were Serpentine showcasing their first ever live UK gig it seems alongside their brand new singer Matt Black who took over from Tony Mills of TNT/Shy fame. I must admit their Touch of Heaven album from last year didn't make too many waves with me. It was a pleasant enough AOR record but it was a bit sterile and pedestrian sounding and I'm not a huge fan of Tony Mills' vocals but anyhow he was gone and now they had a new young buck on the mic. As soon as he started singing it was pretty amazing to be honest. This young guy had a huge set of pipes on him that's for sure. Sometimes almost shrill and giving our ears a good going over on the high notes but his tone and style in general were perfect for the band. The new song they played called Philadelphia sounded much crisper and catchier than their older material.

The guys played with big smiles on their faces and I think the audience were very appreciative of the band and they went down very well and much better live than what I remember them sounding like on record. The new album with Matt Black should be something special for AOR fans if this performance is anything to go by.

Finally it was time for Houston. Now I know the Swedes had two members but I was wondering how they were going to round out the band and to my surprise they took to the stage with two girl guitarists yes that's TWO one rhythm and one lead and all members provided backing vocals of course. The sound was the best of the night too. The singer and mainman sounded in fine smooth voice and the band were tight with the melodic guitars and catchy choruses galore. It's hard to pick a best song of the night as all the songs from the debut album are pretty damn catchy to be honest. Some typical slightly awkward Swedish humour from the stage as well and after about a 50 minute set it was all over.

It had been a very fun night of melodic rock goodness proving that this music can still be a draw and it ain't completely dead and buried. On a side note can I say that the most bizarre person was at the show. I couldn't quite believe my eyes to be honest. During the Serpentine set I noticed two girls standing opposite me at the far end, one was a blonde and the other was a brunette. Now I had to take a double take, and screw my eyes carefully cause the brunette stunner was a dead ringer for UK pornstar Lolly Badcock! Very very odd indeed. The blonde girl was also quite familiar to me and I had a feeling she might be in the same game so to speak but what in the hell were doing at an AOR gig??? Anyway I slowly cottoned on to the fact that the blonde one maybe in some way attached to some member of the band in some way and most probably the singer Matt Black. Lo and behold a bit later I saw the blonde girl and Matt smooching away and talking. Lolly and he friend actually walked right past me to get a drink and whilst she's around the same height as me she's as thin as a rake and make no mistake. I was almost gonna pluck up courage and say hello Lolly I've spilt mucho seed over you in my time and can I have a kiss and a picture but it was just too loud and she wouldn't have heard me! Yeah right as if I'd say that! Anyway the whole thing was completely odd and I wonder what she thought of it all. Obviously her friend the blonde one was married to Matt and she's come along for the night. I didn't see he again but she might have been out back blowing one of the guy's from Houston the horny minx!

OK enough about that. I'll probably go and see these guys again in May with Serpentine, Miss Behaviour and a mystery band.